Feature: Chinese knot brings fortune to Milan Expo visitors

When a mother visiting the Milan Expo saw her baby stop crying and easily fall asleep, she wondered whether the Chinese knot that she had just taken in her hands truly can make miracles.

"It really brings fortune. The child had been noisy all the time and now he has suddenly become so quiet," the mother, Stefania Mazzucato, told Xinhua.

"My nephew is five months old and cries every night. I want to try too, I think this Chinese knot really brings good luck," another young woman said after watching the scene at the Expo's China Pavilion.

The Chinese knot, also called Lucky knot, is a traditional adornment craft which reposes people's good wishes. This hand-tied fine art has developed from the knots used in daily life through thousands of years.

Another time, the Chinese knot seemed to have shown its "magic power" again: it may have cured hiccups, Wang Wen, a Chinese woman who teaches visitors how to weave the Chinese knot at the China Pavilion, told Xinhua.

"A little girl who was waiting in line with her schoolmates to visit the China Pavilion could not stop hiccupping. I handed a Chinese knot to her saying it would bring her luck, and the hiccups indeed stopped in front of her astonished friends," Wang recalled.

Wang along with Tan Minhua came from the Shanghai Textile Museum to head the Chinese knot show at the China Pavilion. The two women, wearing Chinese cheongsams, tell visitors the story of the Chinese knot and also teach them how to say "Chinese knot" and other few words in Mandarin.

"Knot" in Chinese language has the meanings of reunion, friendliness and warm. As "knot" and "luck, felicity" have similar pronunciations, the Chinese knots are often used to express good wishes such as happy, prosper and love.

"Every day, 200 to 300 visitors from different countries of the world learn how to weave knots here, and all of them believe that they will bring them fortune," Wang went on saying.

"The disabled also want to be here as they know the Chinese knot will do them good," she added.

"We talk to Italian visitors in simple Italian language," Tan, the other woman teaching how to weave knots, told Xinhua.

"Some of them are very warm with us, they like to correct our pronunciation and tell us they have visited Shanghai, Beijing or other Chinese cities," she said.

Among the young generations, "Wow!" is the most frequent exclamation when they become able to weave a Chinese knot by themselves.

"To tell the truth, I have not realized what the secret of this knot is, but I know the Chinese knot is a mascot which brings good luck into people's life," one of the students, Brunella, told Xinhua. "I want to take it home and hang it in my room," she added.

Many other visitors of the China Pavilion decided to do the same. Two students from Naples, a city in southern Italy, were proud of having weaved their first knots. Emma and Erica hung the knots on their necklace and school bag.

"Once at home, our rooms will be their place forever," they told Xinhua.

Meanwhile, a little girl aged three, Carolina, was deep in thought before deciding that she will hang her knot in the living room instead of her bedroom. She said she wants to share the good luck brought by the knot with her family.

Another student, Elsa Damigano, thanked the two women in perfect Mandarin after waving her knot. Damigano, who has attended a short course of Chinese, told Xinhua she hoped her Chinese knot will bring her health and happiness.

The China Pavilion has garnered loads of attention from visitors since made its debut on May 1, when the Expo Milano 2015 opened.

Volunteers at the China Pavilion told Xinhua people stand in line for long time every day to visit the rippling wheat-shaped building, which exhibits China's agricultural history, food culture and its future expectations to the world in line with the Expo's theme dedicated to sustainable nutrition.

Learning how to weave a Chinese knot adds fascination to the pavilion, the volunteers said, to the point that visitors are not afraid of the scorching hot of these summer days in Milan.

On June 8, the China National Day at the Expo Milano 2015, a massive -- 6.8 meter high, 4.8 meter wide and 1 ton heavy -- Chinese knot inscribed with the Chinese character Fu, which means "fortune," was put on display at the gate of the pavilion.

Built with new technological materials resistant to all kinds of weather, this precious symbol of the Chinese culture will remain to bring luck at the entrance of the China Pavilion till the end of the Expo on Oct. 31. Endit